Frantic Assembly and Forced Entertainment. Mark David

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by White Rose E-theses Online Processes and Rhetorics of Writing in Contemporary British Devising: Frantic Assembly and Forced Entertainment. Mark David Smith PhD University of York Department of Theatre, Film and Television September 2013 Abstract This thesis examines the frameworks of writing and devising employed by two influential British theatre companies of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: Frantic Assembly and Forced Entertainment. I place these companies – not usually considered together – in dialogue, drawing on archive material from the decades- long span of their careers. Clues to the development of their creative methods are sought from rehearsal tapes and scripts, as well as other material surrounding each company’s output; this includes education packs, reviews, interviews (some newly conducted by myself), promotional videos and other manifestations of the rhetoric around the creation of the works in question. I focus closely on several specific productions for each company, but frame these detailed studies within a wider exploration of the developing styles, shifting methods and changing material circumstances within which these productions were created. My first chapter assesses existing proposed definitions of devising, adopting and nuancing certain key terms in the light of my observations of the companies examined. Within these frameworks, I use the particular case studies to illuminate concerns central to the creation of new theatrical work more widely, involving overlapping processes of devising and writing. In particular, I probe anxieties, paradoxes and revelations around the roles of writing and collaboration. By tracing the companies’ rhetorics and practices over a considerable length of time, I throw new light on the slow accretion and nuancing of process within both companies. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements............................................................................................. 5 Author’s declaration ........................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 7 Forced Entertainment’s formation and development ....................................... 11 Frantic Assembly’s formation and development .............................................. 14 The companies’ styles and appeals ................................................................... 16 Possible precedents ........................................................................................... 19 Writing and devising......................................................................................... 20 1. FRAMEWORKS AND TERRITORY ............................................................... 23 Introduction....................................................................................................... 24 Oddey, defining devising, and ‘beginnings’ ..................................................... 25 Physicality and the verbal ................................................................................. 32 Devising and physical theatre in the mainstream ............................................. 35 Dramaturgy ....................................................................................................... 38 Collaboration and ensemble ............................................................................. 40 Authorship ........................................................................................................ 46 2. FRANTIC ASSEMBLY ...................................................................................... 52 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 53 Early precedents: the Volcano lineage and DV8 connections ............................... 60 Stylistic borrowings .......................................................................................... 62 The ‘workshop culture’ and de facto collaboration .......................................... 67 Politics and collaboration ................................................................................. 69 The text and training in Volcano’s physical theatre ......................................... 71 Frantic’s early productions ..................................................................................... 74 Look Back in Anger and the early ensemble ..................................................... 74 Klub style .......................................................................................................... 80 Autobiography and the creative actor ............................................................... 83 Text, language and character in Klub, Flesh and Zero ..................................... 88 Writing without a writer: Zero .......................................................................... 92 Towards the ‘proper’ play ...................................................................................... 97 Sell Out ............................................................................................................. 98 Hymns and physicality .................................................................................... 105 Towards compartmentalisation ....................................................................... 109 From Hymns to pool (no water) – ‘new writing’ and movement work ............... 112 pool (no water) ..................................................................................................... 114 R&D and ‘scratch’ culture .............................................................................. 114 The writer’s response and the anxiety of authority ........................................ 119 3 ‘Performer blindness’ ..................................................................................... 124 Stockholm ............................................................................................................. 127 The initial idea ................................................................................................ 128 The writer’s response ...................................................................................... 130 The performer, designer and writer in R&D .................................................. 133 Dramaturgy and writer support ....................................................................... 139 Frantic Assembly – conclusions ........................................................................... 141 3. FORCED ENTERTAINMENT ........................................................................ 144 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 145 The company’s roots ............................................................................................ 150 Early structure and precedents ........................................................................ 150 Early style ....................................................................................................... 153 Outsider status ................................................................................................ 156 Anxieties and creative tactics ............................................................................... 162 Tim Etchells: ‘fingerprints’?........................................................................... 162 The anxiety of status ....................................................................................... 165 The anxiety of collectivity .............................................................................. 167 The anxiety of leadership................................................................................ 170 The anxiety of creativity ................................................................................. 176 The anxiety of repetition ................................................................................. 179 The role of ‘Writing’ ...................................................................................... 182 Structuring the writing .................................................................................... 185 Effort, not skill ................................................................................................ 191 Improvisation and duration in rehearsals ............................................................. 196 Emanuelle Enchanted ........................................................................................... 202 New moves ..................................................................................................... 203 Performing ‘performance’ .............................................................................. 207 Visual moves .................................................................................................. 211 Directing improvisation .................................................................................. 213 Speak Bitterness ................................................................................................... 218 Playing games to make and shape text ........................................................... 220 Creative strategies and the outside eye ..........................................................

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